The Way of The Shinigami
by Painlover792
Summary: Shinigami... A title given to those who accept the dangers of the world around them. Join an orange haired teenager whose view of the world is changed by a certain blonde haired delinquent. Somewhat AU.


The inspiration for this story comes from My Name is Scratch's story Orange Hair. Basically in this plot there are no ninjas everyone in the Ninja world is a shinigami and everyone has reiatsu instead of chakra. You'll get the idea soon enough.

Oh and in this fic Kaein Shiba is alive and will be Ichigo's cousin. For all the people who don't know who Kaien Shiba is. In the anime he was Ichigo's cousin (they looked quite alike and people could have presumed that they were brothers if they had met). Oh and forgive me if I make any errors, English isn't my native language, so here we go.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Twelve years ago, horror befell on the Land of fire's village of Konohagakure. A creature known as a hollow and this wasn't an ordinary low class menos no it was fully fledged Vaste Lorde there are ten of these particularly powerful hollows but only nine had been known to exist and out of all of these hollows the most powerful of the nine is the Kaji no Kitsune. It was a fierce battle and thousands of lives were lost but in the last moment Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage used the unique ability of his zanpakuto's bankai Tojiru no Kami( Seal of God) to seal the hollow inside his only son who was a few minutes old sadly the Hokage died due the extreme amount of reiatsu needed for the sealing. Thus a jinchuriki ( power of Human sacrifice) was born and his name was Naruto Uzumaki. It was moment of great sadness for the Hokage as he had to do it to his only son. He knew that jinchuriki are not treated well and are viewed as wepons in most of the great nations.

But this wasn't the only jinchuriki of Konoha.

About 4 years ago,

A hollow more specifically a vaste lorde by the looks of it attacked a village full of civilians and it looked nothing like the fearsome nine. It had a humanoid body apart from the fact that it had a hole on his chest and had razor sharp claws for hands and a fearsome skull for a head with horns. Due to all the chaos Isshin Kurosaki and his team was sent to subdue the unknown creature sadly all but three survived the attack. Here's what happened

Masaki Kurosaki Shiba wife of Isshin Shiba was a jogami, an elite shinigami although not anywhere near the level of her husband. Yet she was afraid, scared of the abomination that slaughtered most of their team only she, her husband and Urahara Kisuke, a good friend of theirs were still standing. The white mask which was the abomination that was attacking them was too powerful to exist with one attack it leveled the small village effortlessly.

"Isshin! distract it while I try to seal it away" said a very distraught Urahara Kisuke. Isshin looked at him like he was crazy and said "No! I will not let my friend sacrifice his life needlessly, we…"

"look Isshin we cannot stall this creature any more if you try to it will kill all of us, it's better for the both of you to live than getting all of us killed. Just please listen to me I have a plan.."

Just then when they were slightly distracted the hollow lunged at Masaki and stabbed her through the chest.

"MASAKI!" Isshin cried out and Urahara just stared out in horror and shock.

But, what they didn't notice was Masaki's zanpakuto going through the head of the creature which, then suddenly exploded due to the immense reiatsu focused into blade and the hollow liquefied and seeped into Masaki's body.

No one said anything at the time as they were too shocked at the outcome

Suddenly Masaki collapsed but was caught by Isshin just in time with a shunpo.

He looked at Urahara and said "Kisuke…."

Urahara just looked shocked and replied "I honestly don't know what happened but I think it is for the best that we do not tell anyone about this or the creature."

Isshin nodded but said "what about the Hokage ? What do we say when he asks about the creature that attacked us ?"

"For the Hokage I think we can make an exception but I think it is wise that we leave out the part where it liquified and seeped into her body"

Isshin nodded " Yes, I think that could work out just fine Kisuke"

Kisuke smiled at Isshin and said "hey, what are friends for ?"

Isshin looked at him goofily and replied "Uhh that's a good question Kisuke but I don't know how to answer that question"

Kisuke just looked at him shook his head,grinned and muttered "baka".

**5 months later in the village of Konohagakure **

Masaki was sparring with her husband when she suddenly collapsed onto ground and started gasping for air.

Isshin shouted "Masaski!" he bent down and turned her over to check on her what he saw on her chest was hole forming shape gradually. A look of terror passed over his face and he took her in his arms and used shunpo to get out the grounds to consult his friend Urahara Kisuke.

Urahara Kisuke at the time was busy reading the latest issue of Icha Icha Paradise when suddenly his best friend appeared in front him with his wife in his hands.

"Kisuke, I need your help something happened to Masaki"

Kisuke looked at her was shocked to find a hole on her chest and said "Follow me". Isshin nodded and followed Kisuke into a huge room full of scrolls.

Kisuke then said "I had a feeling this would happen when the hollow infected her soul but I was puzzled to see that nothing happened immediately and threw away all notions of that theory. But seeing as I was right there is only one way to cure her"

Isshin had a bad feeling about this but none the less he trust his best friend with his life so he agreed without learning about the consequences.

Urahara being the good friend he is said "You do realize you will loose all your reiatsu after this right?"

"Yes, I do" said Isshin without a shed of regret. Urahara then said "Ok for this to work you need to go inside Masaki's soul scape which is possible through jinzen but you need to be close to the individual it is easier if you were related to the person but I suppose it might work". Isshin then replied "I don't care about the consequences just take me there now". Urahara then looked at him and smiled and held up his cane which has his zanpakuto inside and muttered a few incantations and struck the cane on Isshin's head which caused a bright flash of light. While Isshin's body was lying in a heap on the floor his soul was inside Masaki's soul scape. He then found Masaki who was just floating around the darkness that was her soul scape due to the arrival of the white mask, the hollow that almost killed Masaki.

He quickly rescued Masaki and put her on over his left shoulder.

He then quickly uttered "Burn Engetsu" which released his shikai and attacked the hollow furiously but the hollow was once gain too powerful so Isshin had no choice but to utter the name of his most powerful attack "Saigo no Getsuga Tenshou" then suddenly the a huge wave of black reiatsu went straight at the hollow which seemingly killed it". As no traces of the hollow remained Isshin was sure that the hollow had perished. He then exited Masaki's soul scape and entered his body again. Upon waking up he saw his wife looking at him with concern.

Urahara then suddenly entered the room and said "well seeing as you are awake, I presume that nothing is wrong with you Isshin."

Isshin smiled at one of his best friends and replied "I feel better than ever" with great enthusiasm.

Urahara then chuckled and said "well I'm happy to hear that and I hope Maskai's feeling well to"

Masaki then smiled faintly and said " I'm feeling well Urahara-kun"

Urahara who felt satisfied with the answer left the couple and went on his way.

And 7 months later a child was born to them.

They decided to name him Ichigo "One who protects" but sadly Masaki died shortly after he was born due to some unforeseen consequences of the method used to kill the hollow inside her.

But unbeknownst to his father the hollow that attacked Masaki had not died but had merely been sealed inside her body unable to influence or harm her. So when Ichigo was born all the powers of the hollow had been transferred to him.

Little did baby Ichigo know that 15 years later he would meet someone who would change his entire view of the world in which he was living.

**The Present, 12 years after the attack of the Kaji no Kitsune – where a certain delinquent with blond hair was up to no good.**

"NARUTO UZUMAKI!"

"Hmm?" A young boy who was quite short for his age turned his head around to the angry voice "Oh, hey Iruka sensei. What's up?"

:"What's up? WHAT'S UP?! WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" The figure - apparently under the name of "Iruka" asked furiously.

The young boy looked at him with uncertainty and asked "What do you mean?"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I MEAN!?" said Iruka who was pointing at the bucket of paint that laid beside the boy.

"Ohhh! That, well it makes them look cooler".

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND NARUTO!" exclaimed a very pissed Iruka-sensei.

"Naruto, have you forgotten who the Hokage are? The title of Hokage is given to…."

"The strongest shinigami of the village"

"Yes, and the fourth Hokage sacrificed himself to save the village now, don't they deserve some respect"

"But I do respect them Iruka sensei…."

"Then why did you put graffiti all over the hokage monument"

"Well I…"

"Look I don't want to know why but I do have a question for you Naruto"

Said blond turned his head around with uncertainty to meet his sensei and replied "Uhhhh sure Iruka-sensei What do you want to know?"

"Naruto, what time is it?" said his sensei who was looking more pissed by the minute.

"Uhh Class time…."

"CLASS TIME, NOW WHERE ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE DURING CLASS TIME!?"

"In the academy learning about the ways of the shinigami" replied Naruto with a downcast look on his face.

The moment he said those words his sensei held him by his jumpsuit which was apparently orange and in a quick burst of shunpo the sudent and sensei seemingly disappeared.

**Shiba residence in the Present**

"GOOD MORNING ICHIGO!" exclaimed a man who looked like he was in his early fourties and this particular man was trying to take his son by surprise but was unfortunately met with a kick to the face.

WHAT THE HELL OLD MAN IS THAT HOW YOU TREAT YOUR SON" exclaimed the very pissed teenager at his father whose body was currently twitching in pain.

"Uhhhhh I have nothing else to teach you my son" that was apparently the last words the father said before he passed out.

"Crazy old man" muttered the teenager Ichigo who was currently walking towards the bathroom to start his day as usual.

30 minutes later….

The young man was drying his wet orange hair yes I kid you not his hair was as orange as an orange if not maybe even brighter.

He then wore his black sleeveless shinigami robes which had a white symbol of konoha on the back which shows his rank of a Jogami, an elite Shinigami and took his zanpakuto and placed it into sheath attached to his waist.

Ah yes a description of the young man known as Kurosaki Shiba Ichigo –

He was taller than most 16 year olds easily reaching 191 cm. He was muscular but lean and his face had a permanent scowl that had been there since he was a kid and he didn't like to smile a lot and was serious in his duties well he is…. most of the times.

Said Ichigo was now walking amongst the other villagers minding his own business when he saw someone he wish he hadn't, his annoying but goofy cousin Kaien Shiba.

"Hey Ichigo!" yelled a very happy Kaien Shiba at his younger cousin who looked at him with regret.

"Oh no! What have I done to deserve his" muttered a very annoyed Ichigo.

"Oh hey Kaien" replied Ichigo with some annoyance.

"Now is that some way to treat your very own cousin, Ichigo" replied a very happy Kaien.

"Yes." Kaien just looked at Ichigo with some amusement and just shrugged "well I'll see you later then cousin"

"Yeah sure" replied Ichigo with great haste and simply shunpoed somewhere else.

Now the thing which sets Ichigo apart from his family and relatives is that he doesn't share their craziness and good and joyful attitude. In fact he's the opposite of everything Shiba and the only thing he has in common with his cousin are his looks in fact they looked so similar they might even be mistaken as real brothers or even worse in Ichigo's opinion "twins"

When he reached the hokage tower he saw one of his only friends in the village standing at the entrance"

"Nice to see you Ichigo-kun" said Gin Ichimaru a fellow jogami to his friend.

"Yeah it's nice to see you to Gin" replied a now calm Ichigo

Gin looked at him with a smile that was quite unnerving to most people as he always looked at people with his eyes constantly narrowed to slits.

"So how was your day?"

"You already know the answer to that Gin"

"Oh same old"

"Yup, I woke up to find my old man trying to kill me then I meet my favourite cousin I mean what are the odds of that happening in one day?" said a very peeved Ichigo.

"I'm sure you'll forget all about it Ichigo-kun" said his good friend.

"Well I suppose you're right, so the hokage sent for you too huh"

"Yup" replied the white haired Jogami

Then all of a sudden a flash of orange and yellow bumped into Ichigo him to trip and fall face down to the earth.

"Hey kid what's the big idea" said a pissed Ichigo who recovered quickly and held the said kid by the collar.

"It was an accident I swear I was just….." the said kid didn't get a chance to complete his answer when a certain dark haired Shinigami Academy instructor who at the time was chasing the said kid shouted out "NARUTO"

"Uh oh I'm screwed"

Hearing this Ichigo and Gin looked at each other confused at the sudden commotion.

Ichigo looking at the kid in the ugly orange jumpsuit, pitied himself and said "Someone up there must really hate my guts".

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

So this is the first chapter of this fic and I hope it wasn't found boring to any of you.

Oh and please leave a review and I'm happy to receive criticism if it helps in improving the story.


End file.
